Triggering vomiting with medication
If you want to induce vomiting, several drugs are available. The most common drug to induce vomiting is the ipecacuanha, a tropical plant better known as ipecacuanha. When processed into syrup, the root of the plant is administered as an emetic for acute poisoning.
After about 15-45 minutes, the effect occurs due to strong irritation of the stomach lining and subsequent reflex-like contraction, resulting in gushing vomiting. Apomorphine is another agent that induces vomiting. This substance class is closely related to morphine, in fact apomorphine is produced by chemical transformations of morphine.
Apomorphine unfolds its effect at sites in the brain where the messenger substance dopamine normally acts and triggers vomiting by stimulating the vomiting center. Medicinal vomiting may only be induced when the patient is fully conscious. If the patient is drowsy or unconscious, protective reflexes fail, the vomit is inhaled into the lungs and leads to suffocation. In general, therapeutic vomiting is rarely triggered today. Gastric lavages and the administration of activated carbon in cases of poisoning have replaced therapeutic vomiting.
Household remedy to induce vomiting
The simplest method to induce vomiting is to mechanically irritate the uvula by sticking a finger in the throat. It may be necessary to “tickle” the uvula a little to induce vomiting. The stimulation of the nerve running through the palate sends signals to the nausea center, and you may vomit.
Other household remedies, such as mustard solutions, drinking a liter of milk quickly or gargling protein often have no effect, but in the worst case can harm the patient. Even when vomiting is induced with household remedies, the patient must be fully conscious in order not to inhale his vomit by mistake. If poisoning occurs in the household, for example with cleaning agents, vomiting should not be induced under any circumstances, as many cleaning agents contain acids, alkalis or foam-forming substances.
If such substances pass through the esophagus again during vomiting, they cause massive damage. Poisoning is always an emergency. The rescue service or poison emergency call center should be alerted immediately if poisoning is suspected, because only professional treatment can prevent the poison from being absorbed into the body and thus prevent possible consequential damage.
Salt water used to be considered a household remedy for inducing vomiting.The effect of this measure, like that of Ipecacuana Syrup, is based on excessive irritation of the stomach lining. However, we strongly advise against this, as it can lead to dangerous complications. The highly concentrated sodium contained in salt water, which also occurs in our body, can cause a so-called electrolyte shift.
In this case, elevated sodium levels cause seizures, epileptic fits, unconsciousness and respiratory failure. In the worst case, the hypernatremia leads to death. If there is already a lack of water, the life-threatening threshold is quickly reached by drinking salt water.
